The Great Zoo of China by Matthew
Reilly
China desperately wants a cultural
centerpiece to compete with Disneyworld so five years ago they secretly started
constructing a zoo. It is massive in
scale and extremely opulent. Even
without the animals it is a resort people would want to visit, if they wanted
to travel all the way to Southern China.
But this zoo is special. This zoo
has something no one else has ever seen.
This zoo has dragons.
Dr. Cassandra Cameron, crocodilian
expert, and her brother Hamish, a well-known photographer are invited to a
behind the scenes tour of the Great Zoo on behalf of National Geographic. Two reporters from the New York Times and the
United States Ambassador to China and his aide are also invited on the
tour. Naturally, disaster strikes.
Imagine Jurassic Park but the
creatures can fly, make Tyrannosaurs look puny and are very, very, very smart. These dragons are not cute they are fearsome. Reilly used the intelligence and learning
habits of saltwater crocodiles to model his dragon behavior to the nth degree
and it is frightening indeed. The origin
story of the creatures is really fascinating and he, as usual, does a great job
with all the action scenes. More
importantly, to me at least, are the maps and layouts he includes in his book
to help illustrate what is happening where.
I love when fiction books include illustrations of any kind.
If you’re looking for an action
book, and are desperately waiting for the next Jurassic Park movie to be
released, read this one to tide you over!
